(Click here to read in Amharic.)
The Americans have not
seen such a scandal for more than two hundred years since 1814 when British
troops attacked Capitol Hill. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the social
media conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns have resulted in this chaos. In this note,
I will briefly explore the necessity of freedom of expression and the contradicting challenge
posed by social media.
Why We Need the Freedom of Expression?
There are four main reasons why freedom of expression must be respected. (1) because it is a natural right – for personal
fulfillment, (2) to discover the truth, (3) to increase the decision-making
power of individuals, 4) to avoid the violent consequences of the repression of the freedom of expression, and additionally (5) because it is a necessary condition to also watch the respect
other rights.
Inciting speech and misinformation
contradict the reasons why freedom of expression must be respected. That is why
international conventions seek to establish a cautious framework for
restricting freedom of expression (incitement to war and hate, racism, etc.) as
well as principles
(legality, legitimacy, and necessity). However, while Europeans who had
experienced genocide have taken serious legal actions, the Americans have
always said that the solution is more freedom.
By the way, although the differences
between Europe and the United States are broad in terms of the law, this does not
mean Europeans (such as Germany) are jailers of journalists. Nor their citizens
are afraid to speak out their critics to the government. Americans have also created
a culture of countering irresponsible public speaking with an attempt to
counter even many micro-aggressions through public scrutiny. It is in authoritarian or semi-authoritarian
regimes that restrictions of freedom of expression target journalists, or
speeches can be left unaccounted for (mostly, in cases where the speaker is power). Of course,
the ethics and professionalism of journalists is also low in these semi-authoritarian
regimes, again driven due to the behavior of the governments.
Conspiracy
Theories
One of the pitfalls of social media is the promotion
of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. Misinformation is not a new phenomenon;
rather it is fundamentally old-aged. Benjamin Franklin
is one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, who actually signed
on the four most important documents of the Independence Declaration. Authors
of “Like War”, a book that has analyzed the power of propaganda on social
media, named Franklin as “the founding father of fake news in America”. Many
states-persons have used misinformation as a tool to build a political and social
system. Almost all political structures or social systems have been justified
with propaganda backed by misinformation.
QAnon
Conspiracy
Many supporters of Trump have been deceived
by the QAnon conspiracy. It is “a
wide-ranging, completely unfounded theory that says that President Trump is
waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government,
business, and the media”. At the end of his reign, they believe that the president will win and Satan-worshipers and elites will end up jailed. Political arguments, ideology, and policy do not mean
anything to the fast-growing believers of this conspiracy theory. Trump supporters come
out to the streets wearing T-shirts or hats with the letter Q printed on them.
Trump was asked to say that there was no such deep-state and that he was not at
war with it, but he covered it up so as not to lose his supporters (saying that
he doesn’t know about the movement but that he knows that ‘they like him’). In
November 2020, one of the more than 70 candidates of the QAnon movement run for and one of them was
elected to Congress. According to Pew Research, more than half of Americans
have heard about the movement which started with unsubstantiated claims by
an anonymous social media user about three years ago.
Beyond
Conspiracy Theories…
Neither Trump's candidacy for the
presidency in the US nor Britain's exit from the European Union would have been possible
without social media. Despite the attempts of the fellow countries' citizens
to convince us that it is Russia’s social media bots and propaganda machines that
have created the dividing narratives on the social media, it is the citizens on
the social media who have widened the preexisting divisions in their respective
societies. Social media has empowered the extremists and gave them a platform to
radicalize the less-informed members of each community.
Unlike before, activists of conspiracy write
misinformation on social media and build up as many followers as they wish. It
is usually the followers who are the real victims of misinformation and who pay the price
for the interests of these conspiracy activists. "We are storming the Capitol; it is a revolution," said a
woman who was asked by the media why she entered the building on January 6 as
she got out crying. For those who are blinded by misinformation
and propaganda, the election is not credible unless the result is what they
want. Because the propaganda made them doubt everything that was coming from
the other side.
Chinese
Counterstrategy: Another Trouble
China has banned American social media from
operating in its territory. In place of them, it has provided its own social
media platforms that
censors every political content not friendly to the government. The
artificial intelligence behind the Chinese social media platforms doesn’t allow
posting of contents that are not ‘allowed’ by the state; and, in cases, they are
managed to be, they will soon be removed. This is something that many authoritarian
regimes want to have. However, this is not the better alternative to the wild
social media which radicalizes the youth and nurtures violent extremism.
Rather, guided by the principles of restricting freedom of expression we have
mentioned above (legality, legitimacy, and necessity), it is necessary to use artificial
intelligence to filter out manipulative contents from the social media to make
it a healthy platform as it needs to be (like countering computer viruses with
antiviruses).
It is possible to build an ethical algorithm that filters
out racist, hateful, organized disinformation, and inciting contests from the
social media. Just as verified pages or profiles can be marked with a blue
badge, it is also possible to reduce the impact of pages and profiles that
repeatedly disseminate incitement, hateful content, false information, conspiracy
theories, and the likes with yellow and/or red badges, periodically or
permanently.
Social media is a unique and important platform
for challenging authoritarian regimes. But, they have been a dangerous
challenge for democratic institutions and for consolidating democracy in states
that are trying to do transition to democracy.
The
Test of Ethiopia
Ethiopians have used social media to
force reform by the government. However, social media has been an instrument for fanning conflicts on the ground ending up reversing the progress
of an optimist reform.
As a person who has been leading a
monitoring team of social media activities in Ethiopia, I have observed that
politicians and interest groups are manipulating the platform for undeserved political
gains. In Ethiopia’s social media sphere, almost all political figures and
groups have their own propaganda teams who often use misinformation and
incitement as a strategy. These social media warriors, if not fabricate total
lies, exaggerate information, and narratives that support their advantages while
ignore or suppress those that disfavors them. This is the new normal to the so-called post-truth era, but not acceptable.
The impact of social media narratives will
not be easy in the next election of Ethiopia that is scheduled
for June 5, 2021. As far as current trends are concerned, in this general election,
it is most probable that voters will cast their ballots ill-informed than
well-informed. The social media’s influence in dictating this misinformation of
voters is higher as the mainstream media is largely influenced by the social
media in Ethiopia.
The misinformation trend can be halted in the joint efforts of many stakeholders’ activities. This includes transparency and
accountability (upon failure) of the government entities, the fact-checking effort
of the media and journalists, the media literacy activities of civil societies,
and an increased and quick moderation effort of the social media platform. Otherwise,
laws such as the recently adopted “anti-hate speech and suppression of dissemination
of false information” will only end up being instruments of the ruling party in
Ethiopia. Moreover, laws are not effective ways of prevention of disinformation
everywhere in the world.
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